21 Fun Facts About My Writing

Anyways, I do talk about my projects every so often, but it’s usually limited to a specific character or incident. So, sort of in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, I decided to share some “fun facts” about my three writing projects. If you’re not familiar with these stories, don’t worry – I’ll link to their “About” pages below.

Without further ado, here’s some trivia you can impress your friends with when I’m rich and famous*

*let’s be honest, that doesn’t usually happen – but hey, I can dream.

I created the main characters (Leslie and Riley) when I was probably like 13-14. They were originally intended to forever be mortal enemies until I realized (a few years later) that they had a lot of character chemistry and I retconned some of their backstory to make them more like friends that loved to hate each other.

The title and setting was partially inspired by My Chemical Romance’s song “Summertime”

Riley had earlobe piercings in middle school, but he doesn’t anymore.

Leslie’s main position in ice hockey is right wing. The mascot for her team is the same as my college’s mascot.

Of all the characters I’ve ever created, Riley’s father Jason is the most developed adult character

The CDs Riley keeps in his car have changed in various drafts. In earlier versions, Riley had The Classic Crime, My Chemical Romance, Pink Floyd, and Switchfoot CDs. In the latest revision, it’s Anberlin, Boston, Relient K, and My Chemical Romance.

Leslie’s mother is an immigration lawyer and her father is a computer programmer who works from home.

Chey’s middle and last names are derived from two female musicians I looked up to at the time, Lacey Sturm (Flyleaf) and Korey Cooper (Skillet). “Chey” comes from my fascination with Shay from Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, and I picked “Cheyenne” based on how it could be shortened to “Chey.”

Like with Chey’s name, Jared and Kevin were also created around the same time and also have musician-inspired names – Kevin Young from Disciple and Jared Hartmann from Flyleaf.

It’s not explicitly stated in the story, but Spencer names her houseplants after musicians (particularly drummers)

Kevin’s backstory has changed about 18 million times over the years. The only consistent thing is that his father is in the military.

I spent a lot of time coming up with Spencer’s name, since I wanted something less feminine-sounding to fit her character. “Spencer” came from a female classmate I had in my freshman year of college.

The van that the band buys is directly influenced by the red 15-passenger van my family owns, also affectionately referred to as Big Red.

Chey’s mention of stage fright is a throwback to a story I wrote in my mid-teens, where she had to overcome that challenge to perform in a school talent show (or something like that).

My major inspirations for this story and its setting were The Legend of Zelda and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

This shows up most obviously in the geography of the world, which were inspired by traditional Zelda locations. For example, the desert country, Solistan, was influenced by Gerudo Valley, Reystrell takes cues from Castle Town/Central Hyrule, etc.

The actual concept of the story came from a desire to reverse the princess/knight dynamic. In other words, I wanted a female character to be the one with combat experience and a male character to be a magic-user.

Adrien has a pet Rhodesian Ridgeback dog named Magnum. (This was Kiara’s suggestion, which apparently she made because she was watching Judge Judy and was offended by how someone on the show demonized the dog breed)

When Myrina found out her sister was getting married, she threatened her sister’s fiancé, Leland, before formally meeting him. Their first “official” meeting was awkward.

Myrina is left-handed (an homage to my favorite lefty hero, Link)

Some of Silas’s background and traits are inspired by Simon Blackquill from Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. He’s not even a favorite character of mine, he just… somehow wormed his way into my story

What has inspired your stories over the years? How have your stories and characters changed in different versions? I’d love to hear some fun facts about your writing projects as well!